Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) Wednesday rebuked Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) over a violent video he shared on social media last week, asking during an impassioned speech on the House floor, "what is so hard about saying that this is wrong?"
Why it matters: The speech comes ahead of the House's vote Wednesday on whether to censure Gosar and remove him from his committee assignments because of the video, which depicted him killing Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden.
What they're saying: "In response to the Republican leader's remarks when he says that this action is unprecedented, what I believe is unprecedented is for a member of House leadership of either party to be unable to condemn incitement of violence against a member of this body."
- "What is so hard about saying that this is wrong? This is not about me. This is not about representative Gosar, but this is about what we are willing to accept."
- Ocasio-Cortez condemned Gosar and other Republicans for defending the video as a "joke," stating, "our work here matters. Our example matters."
- "As leaders in this country, when we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues, that trickles down into violence in this country," she added, calling the incident an example of misogyny and racist misogyny.
Twitter labeled the video last week, noting that it violated the company's hateful conduct policy.
The other side: Gosar during his floor speech said he "rejected the false narrative" that the cartoon was "dangerous or threatening."
- He described the video as "depicting a policy battle" regarding immigration.